


Fugly Cat

by Yoshishisha



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, POV Blaise Zabini, Post-Hogwarts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:35:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22236454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yoshishisha/pseuds/Yoshishisha
Summary: Hermione just got a new cat. Blaise would be fine with that, except that this cat could not have more obviously cursed him. Too bad he loves his girlfriend too much to tell her so.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Blaise Zabini
Comments: 6
Kudos: 35
Collections: Harry Potter Rare Pair Bingo: Round One!





	Fugly Cat

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Established Relationship: Character A gets a cat. Character B either doesn't like the cat and slowly starts to love them -OR- is allergic but doesn't have the heart to tell Character A.

“Oh,” was all Blaise could say when he came face to face with the ugliest cat he’d ever had the ****misfortune to lay eyes upon. He didn’t even particularly dislike cats, though he held no love for them either, but this one…

“His name is Crookshanks, isn’t he just adorable?” Hermione asked, flashing a beaming smile at him when Blaise raised his eyebrows.

“Why the name?” Blaise asked instead of either lying or telling her exactly what he thought about her cat. He couldn’t get the sentence out completely however, as the prickling that had been nesting at the back of his nose since Hermione had brought the cat in became unbearable, and he sneezed.

He glared at the cat when Hermione turned to fetch him a tissue, somehow certain that it was the cause of his current discomfort. The cat glared right back, and Blaise knew right then that his days of tranquility were over.

A few days later and there was definitely no doubt about it: the cat had done something to him. Although Blaise hadn’t felt the urge to sneeze since that first day, maintaining a constant air-filtering charm around his face whether the cat was within his eyesight or not, there were other signs that it had cursed him.

His skin was always itchy, even though he took care to avoid the creature as much as possible. Despite Blaise’s best efforts, the cat seemed to have taken an inordinate liking to him, which made it even more of a hassle to avoid it. He did briefly wonder if there was a way he could convince Hermione to give the cat up, but then he saw her smile as she rubbed her face against the horrible creature’s fur. Maybe he should simply bear the discomfort after all.

* * *

“Blaise?”

He could hear Hermione’s voice, but it seemed far away, and he still couldn’t breathe. The weight was finally removed from his face, and Blaise heaved, taking deep gulping breaths to try and take in some much needed air, but all it did was make him sneeze, and his throat was closing up, and-

“Anapneo.”

Blaise’s airways opened up, and he took in a deep shuddering breath, coughing his throat out as he inhaled much needed air.

“That was not a normal reaction.”

Once he’d finally managed to breathe properly, Blaise turned a dark glare to Hermione. Merlin, he loved the girl but sometimes she had a dreadful knack for stating the obvious. She at least had the grace to duck her head in shame, which gave him some kind of satisfaction after the hell her cat had given him.

“Are you sure your cat is not some kind of venomous breed?” he tried to hiss, though a sort of continuous wheeze left his mouth instead, taking much of the venom out of his tone. The cat didn’t even have the grace to feel threatened or guilty for its attempt at murder.

“Unless he’s suddenly developed fangs or some other apparatus to transmit venom to you, he’d be poisonous, not venomous,” Hermione protested, and this time Blaise had to accompany his glare by a hiss reminiscent of a snake.

“But that’s not the question, you’re right,” she hastily corrected herself. She then bit her lip and sat down. “Blaise,” she started hesitantly, only for her tone to grow firmer. “Are you perhaps allergic to cats?”

“Allergic to what?” Blaise shook his head. “No, I’ve seen tons of cats before and none of them have had this effect on me.”

He tilted his head to the side and looked at Crookshanks dubiously. “Are we sure your cat is a cat? Because I’m allergic to Kneazles, which is why I’ve barely interacted with any of them.”

They both looked at Crookshanks, who hadn’t displayed any magical abilities characteristic of Kneazles in all the time they’d had him. As though in direct answer to their question, the cat simply stretched out a stubby leg and folded itself in half in a well-timed attempt to lick its crotch.

“I’ll do something about this,” Hermione said decisively. She snapped one of her trusty hair ties around her wrist and used it to gather her hair into a bun, which Blaise hoped meant she’d look for a way to keep him from suffocating again, and not that she’d chose instead to get him another place to live so she could spend more time with her cat.

“Sure,” he said instead of giving voice to the doubts currently running wild in his head. None of Hermione’s plans had ever had bad consequences for him, and she’d managed to keep Potter alive for all their years of schooling after all. Surely keeping Blaise alive couldn’t be harder than that.

* * *

In the end, it took a bit less than a week. A week of Blaise seeing neither hair nor hide of the cat (much to his relief), but also a week of him only seeing Hermione for mealtimes as she worked on what she insisted was a “top secret project Blaise, I’ll tell you when it’s done.” At the end of the week, Blaise was about ready to smother himself in the cat’s fur if it meant he could see Hermione more than her coworkers did. Thankfully, she was the one to come to him first.

“There you go,” she said as Blaise was dozing off on the couch, dropping the cat on his chest. He suppressed his initial reaction, which was to get the hell out from under that cat, and glanced at his girlfriend. There was a satisfied yet eager expression on her face, which indicated that she was proud of what she’d accomplished but also wanted to see his reaction.

“What did you do?” he asked, glancing down at the cat.

He carefully touched it and noticed that it had a new collar, on which runes seemed to be engraved. That and… He raised his head and inhaled slightly, noticing that the motion wasn’t accompanied by the itch at the back of his throat he’d become accustomed to.

“You-“

“That’s right!” Hermione interrupted him happily. “No more allergens for this cat!”

Blaise felt an answering grin grow on his face, sharing her enthusiasm. He leaned back against the couch cushion and simply stared at Hermione as she explained the details of the charms and runework that had gone into the collar. He’d known she would find a way to keep them both, but he hadn’t expected her to go to such lengths to personally ensure it.

“I love you, you know?” Blaise simply said at the end of her speech, leaning up to silently seek a kiss.

Hermione bit her lip in an attempt to restrain a smile, but her eyes crinkled at the edges in joy as she leaned forward to press her lips against his. “I know,” she said, caressing his cheek, and Blaise thought that he just might learn to tolerate the cat if it led to more moments like this.


End file.
